Reassurance
by Kazaam'sMom
Summary: Weeks before his son's birth, Harry finds reassurance about parenthood from an unlikely source.
1. Chapter 1

Blearily, Harry Potter punched his pillow in a vain attempt to refluff it. The morning sun streamed in through the window, persistently waking the comfortable house he shared with his wife of two years.

"Gerrup," Ginny mumbled, gently elbowing her husband. "Tea. Coffee. _Something_."

Two years of marriage had taught Harry, if nothing else, that it was best to comply with any of Ginny's early morning demands. It was, he thought with a smile, the path of least resistance.

"Okay, okay. I'm up," he sighed, kissing her before rolling out of the edge of the bed.

Although Harry was employed as an Auror ("Youngest department head ever!" his mother-in-law was prone to croon) and Ginny as a professional Quiddich player, their Saturday mornings were spent in less glamorous means: starting their day together in bed, sharing steaming mugs of tea and the weekend edition _Daily Prophet._

Traditions, even as small as this, had been paramount to Harry's life after the Great War ended. Really, he mused, that's what new beginnings are intended for: starting small, building on habits until you establish a new normal.

On the thought, Harry's stomach flip-flopped. That new normal he'd fulfilled with Ginny—marriage, income, buying this house—all seemed insignificant compared to Ginny's recent piece of news.

As his heart rate increased, Harry forced himself to calm down. The baby wasn't due to arrive for weeks. He'd muddle through until then and…still not awake fully, Harry's thoughts trailed off.

Ridding the world of evil-doers? Not as terrifying as the thought of fatherhood. Not by a longshot.

Harry trod downstairs, rummaging through the cabinet to find suitable mugs, filling the kettle with water absentmindedly. It wasn't until he passed through the sitting room on his way to get the Prophet that Harry's five senses kicked into overdrive. He spun on the spot, drew his wand and prepared to meet the enemy whose face he'd glimpsed in a picture's reflection on the wall.

"Hey, easy kid. You can put that away, I'm not here to do anything but help."

Harry looked grimly toward the stranger, but did not relax his defense.

"Look, I know you're bound to be suspicious, but this is really just an opportunity. A weird one, but an opportunity," the stranger insisted.

"How do I know who you are?" Harry found his voice.

"Because it's me," the stranger replied succinctly.

Harry gazed steadily into the man's eyes. "Why are you here?"

"Like I mentioned, I'm here because Fate informs me you need a little…ah, guidance," he answered.

Fifteen minutes later, a freckled, redheaded pregnant woman traipsed down the stairs, somewhat ruffled Harry hadn't returned.

"Did you lose your way back…oh!" Ginny gasped.

Sitting in the living room, staring tensely at one another, were Harry and James Potter.


	2. Chapter 2

A few seconds of silence lapsed into a minute as Ginny tried to absorb several things at once.

_That's James. That's Harry's father. It must be. They look just alike. But how…James is dead. Very dead. Like a door nail. Dead a long time…_

"Uh, Mr. Potter?" she began gently. "I don't mean to be rude, but aren't you ah, not, well…aren't you dead?"

James smiled obligingly. "As a matter of fact, yes. But as a matter of lately, no."

Confusion was evident on Ginny's face; Harry was beginning to look peeved.

"I'm sorry I can't be more clear, but I was sent here for a couple days to help you, Harry," James said, a more gentle inflexion in his tone.

"Help me?" Harry exploded as Ginny cringed. "Help me? Never figured I needed any help in the last 20-odd years? Figured now would be a convenient time to drop in for a chat?"

"Harry—" Ginny began, with no plan to the rest of the sentence.

"I know it's frustrating, but I can't say a whole lot. I'm here now because I can help you. Help you without changing the future…just, ease your mind," James explained.

"What does Harry need help with? Our lives are—have been—turmoil-free for a few years. I don't understand," Ginny protested.

"He just does. It might not be obvious to you, but I wouldn't have been sent here if he didn't need me," James said softly. "My son needs me."

At this, the room grew quiet again.

"But how do I know it's really you?" Harry asked, emotionless.

"Sirius thought you'd say that. Here," James said, leaning forward to pass Harry a small object he'd drawn from his pocket.

As Harry turned over his late Godfather's mirror, that so perfectly matched the shards of glass his had once been, Harry exhaled.

"I can't believe you're here. You're here for…"

"Just a couple days, yeah. I know life never afforded us the best circumstances Harry. You don't know how badly your mother and I wished we could have been here all along, raising you, protecting you, but life had different plans, I guess," James said steadily.

"But I'm here now, if you'll have me. And if it was up to me, I'd have come a long time ago, but I'm determined we can make the most of this…weird opportunity."

Thousands of half-thoughts sped through Harry's mind, until he remembered something Hermione had observed not long before his wedding.

_You know, Harry, you've experienced some unpleasant things. I think the rest of your life, Fate owes you one._

"Alright," Harry said aloud, beginning to visibly relax. "Then I guess I have an introduction to make."

Here he swallowed, then cautiously tried out a new term. "Dad, this is my wife, Ginny Potter."

Ginny smiled politely as James, who grinned broadly at Harry's appellation, jumped up and shook Ginny's hand.

"I can barely express how pleased I am to meet you, Ginny. Really," he said.

"Er, likewise, Mr. Potter."

James let out a full-bodied hoot of laughter, and Harry was suddenly able to picture his father as a schoolboy again.

"No one called me that, ever, except dear Minerva," he said, eyes sparkling. "And I think she was just trying to encourage me to hold to a higher standard, bless her."

"Yeah, she has a way of doing that," Harry agreed.

"Trying to, you mean!" James laughed. "Remus was the only one of us who ever behaved respectably in Transfiguration, and even he was 50-50."

Smiling as she recalled her favorite professor, Ginny piped up.

"I think I'll go check on that kettle. Give you two some—" here she exchanged glances with her husband"—time."

No sooner had Ginny's bathrobe retreated around the corner did James scoot to the edge of his seat, fixing Harry with a serious look.

"So, son. I understand you're scared shitless about this baby."


	3. Chapter 3

Harry had the grace to look sheepish.

"Er, yeah. That'd about sum it up," he admitted.

"So was I. I mean, Lily—your mother teased me a little. I was so cocky and brave at Hogwarts and the Ministry…you wouldn't have thought," James said, a wistful tone in his voice.

Harry felt himself relax an iota. Grinning, he said, "Yeah, word is you were a bit of a prat at school."

"A bit? Harry, either you're as kind as your mother or your sources confused me with someone. I was an arrogant little twerp. We ruled Hogwarts—Remus, Sirius and me—and Peter, to an extent," he added darkly. "Point is, I matured some sixth year and then a hell of a lot more seventh. Your mother got me pretty well straightened out by the time I talked her into marrying me."

Here he let out a laugh not unlike Sirius', then he stopped.

"But I was not even remotely ready for a kid. And with a war gathering momentum, it was far from an ideal time to be popping out a kiddo," he explained. "As you know, Lily was your mother from the moment she found out she was pregnant. Of course it didn't faze my perfect Lily," he said.

Harry found himself warming to James a little. For all the unpleasant memories Snape had inadvertently shown him, the other Marauders were evidently truthful with Harry. James had loved Lily deeply.

"Wait, what do you mean, 'as you know,'" Harry asked.

"What—no one told you about that afternoon? The afternoon she told me about you?"

Harry felt the room spin before catching sight of a younger James. The gray, wintery day didn't hold any sway over the man, who had an auror's badge pinned haphazardly to his robes. Lanky and fresh-faced, he assaulted the steps to his second story flat two at a time. Wind-blown hair and rosy cheeks hinted at James' excitement. Harry felt his own pulse quicken as James thrust open the door.

Entering the small flat noisily, he whipped off his cloak, neatly tossing it to a hook by the door.

"Lils? Flower petal? I've got some potentially—no, definitely life-altering news!" he shouted.

A young woman with auburn locks and a warm expression poked her head through the kitchen door.

"Good evening to you too, husband," Lily said. Her eyes sparkled, Harry noticed happily. They were so happy. Harry tried to do mental math to pinpoint the first war's progress at this point, and failed.

"Have a good day at work, I take it?"

James embraced her, roughly kissing her before answering.

"I'll say! Promoted again—I'm out of stupid training level!" he let out a whoop of joy. "And," here he paused for dramatic flair, "I've got the option to go to Egypt for six weeks' special recon training. Finally give me a chance to prove I'm not just some young upstart, I can go above their ridiculous expectations," he finished.

"James, that is wonderful," Lily said with a smile. Harry rather thought it looked as though his mother was enjoying a private joke. "You've been chasing a chance like this for what? The last five months?"

"Six," James corrected easily. "But who's counting?" he laughed.

Picking up his wife in a hug, James twirled the redhead around the kitchen. "Lily, m'dear, everything's coming up roses. No! Better! Everything's coming up lilies!"

The young Mrs. Potter giggled, not bothering to protest as James dipped and twirled her with the skill of a Quiddich champion. "You've worked so hard for this! You've earned it, James," she said and James deposited her on the kitchen countertop.

"I won't argue with that," James leaned forward, kissing her. "And let's face it, us Marauders always get what we chase," he said cheekily.

Lily rolled her eyes with a grin. "Oh do you?"

With a devilish wink, James smiled. "Quite. Let's see: top marks, Quiddich wins, Auror training, Ministry job, oh yes—a beautiful wife who somehow puts up with all the aforementioned pursuits."

"Somehow," Lily agreed. She looked around the tiny kitchen as James busied himself with squatting down to untie his shoelaces. "So we're still set to move into the Godric's Hollow cottage, right?"

"Yeah, two weeks from now, got it all signed over. Just waiting to take a Friday off work," James answered absently, tugging forcefully at a knot in the laces. "Why?"

"Er, no big reason. Just be nice to have the extra space when the baby comes," Lily said quietly, a small smile playing at her lips.

From his position on the floor, James' neck snapped up toward his wife.

"The…what? Is this like a hypothetical baby or a—"

"Like a due-at-the-end-of-July baby," Lily answered. She looked mildly concerned as James stood abruptly.

"July," he said softly. "July. A baby. A baby in July with Lily," he repeated, not evidently directing his words to anyone.

"Yeah," Lily said, her voice adopting James' quiet tone. "Baby Potter."

"Baby Potter." James was nearly whispering now. "Lils—don't get me wrong, I'm happy but, but…try as we might to ignore the obvious, there's a bit of a tiff with Riddle going on and we're in the bloody Order and expected to fight and oh Merlin you can't possibly go out on any more of those missions," he rambled, running a hand violently through his hair several times. "Not while you're…you're…"

"Pregnant? With child? Carrying a baby?" Lily supplied helpfully.

"Right. Those. That."

"It hasn't stopped Alice," Lily protested. "And besides, I'm not daft. I'll stop going out on missions when I get all big and lumbering," she said sharply.

James leaned quite close to Lily, who was still perched on the counter. "Lils, I am scared shitless to be a…dad," his voice cracking with desperation.

"I know you are, James. That's why there's two of us and like seven more months until we have to really figure out how to be parents," Lily answered. "We'll figure this out, like we've figured everything else out. We can do this."

Although she spoke with manageable conviction, Harry noticed his mother's hands trembled slightly in her lap. Suddenly, James leaned further forward, giving Lily a lengthy kiss.

"I know, Lils. It's just, wow. A baby. Us," he said, sounding slightly less terrified. "This is really happening, huh?"

"What is?" Lily asked cautiously.

"Life," he said simply.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry suddenly felt quite intrusive as James wrapped his arms around Lily, picking her up and carrying her to the living room before sitting down with her in his lap.

"I can't imagine loving anyone as much as I love you," he said. His face conveyed how serious he felt.

"Or worrying about anyone as much as I do you. We're in the middle of a damn war, Lily. Even though no one likes calling it that, that's what this is. Who are we to bring a baby into this mixed up world right now? They'll say we're just being irresponsible," he said, scowling.

"Who will?"

"People," he said darkly. "You know, the same ones who said we got married too young. Who said we'd fight with each other all the time or that You-Know-Who was the catalyst for everyone getting married so fast."

"Well I think we've proven them wrong," Lily said. "Because I love you more now than I did on the day we got married." Her eyes glittered with tears.

James, noticing, produced a handkerchief before gathering her into a tighter embrace.

"You're right, Lily-flower," he mumbled. "We'll prove them wrong again. And I promise you," here his voice turned stony with conviction, "I won't let anything happen to you or…or Baby Potter," he said.

Lily smiled against his chest. "I know, James. I know."

* * *

><p>Harry felt the prick of tears in his own eyes. If only James' promise had been so easily fulfilled…suddenly, the scene swirled and Harry found himself back in his and Ginny's living room, staring at an older version of his father once more.<p>

"Not sure if that was the way to show you, but the point I'm trying to make it every father gets scared. It's how you handle that fear," James said, gazing across at his son.

"Er, right. Handle it," Harry repeated.

"And you know, no matter who you'd turned out to be—Boy Who Lived or Boy Who Went to Primary School, whatever, your mother and I still would have thought you were God's gift to humanity," James said smiling. "That's just how parents are. Every thing your child does is special and different and worthy of a Floo-call to 'Uncle' Sirius to report that baby Harry grabbed his own foot."

"Grabbed my own foot, eh? Clearly I was Exceeds-Expectations from an early age," Harry said dryly.

James sighed with an air of exasperation. "Not like that. Just—don't you wonder about your baby? It's hard right now to think of him as separate from Ginny, I know. After all, they're quite the two-in-one deal at the mo'."

Harry nodded in agreement. It was difficult for him to envision life past Ginny giving birth. Every time Molly brought over new baby gear: toys, blankies, nappies, he felt nearly annoyed. How could something so small make such a huge difference in their lives?

"I've got a couple other memories to show you, if you don't mind. Or I can go, if you need some time to think," James said, uncertainty in his voice for the first time.

"No!" Harry said quickly. "I mean, don't go. I'd like to see some more."


	5. Chapter 5

James ruffled his hair in a subconscious manner. "Hm, what else?"

Harry felt himself inch forward a little on his chair when his father suddenly snapped his fingers.

"Got it!

Harry's sitting room disappeared again. As he blinked, a scene swam into view. The Potters were walking through Godric's Hollow, a warm breeze indicating early springtime. James reached down and slyly laced Lily's fingers through his.

"Godric's Hollow is really starting to feel like home," Lily said contentedly.

"Agreed," James replied. "Now if ole Baggyshot will quit coming round for tea every single day."

"James, she's lonely. We can't blame her," Lily reprimanded. "Although it'd be nice to have an afternoon without her once in awhile. I don't mind that she comes, but yesterday! I'd run out of conversation topics."

"Four hours of tea was excessive," James said, nodding.

"Besides!" Lily was gathering steam, "We'll not have loads of alone time soon. It is criminal that I want to spend time with my husband before Baby Potter arrives?"

"Lily-flower, if you're a criminal, I don't know what that makes me," James said with a grin.

"Azkaban worthy, I reckon," Lily said mockingly. "You and Padfoot both."

Harry winced as James guffawed. He knew she hadn't meant it—but still.

The couple was rounding the bend in the lane now. Harry caught sight of their cottage—intact, unblemished and clearly under Lily's expert gardening supervision. Lily started another snappy retort when James suddenly stopped.

"Lily," he said urgently. "Bathilda's in her garden. When we go past, we'll talk. And when we talk, we'll invite her to tea and oh bloody hell," he interrupted himself. "She's waving at us."

Lily smiled kindly and waved; James grimaced through his smile.

As they stopped to chat with the aged historian, Harry smiled at his parents' forced politeness.

"You dears go on, I'll drop by later with some biscuits I've made," was Bathilda's parting promise.

As James opened the garden gate for his wife, Harry noticed his mother was now visibly pregnant. _That's me,_ he thought with a start. _How odd_.

As Lily peeled off her cloak inside, James flipped through the weekend Prophet. Moments passed then the creak of their garden gate broke the peace.

"Evidently she didn't mean much later," Lily muttered dryly.

"C'mon!" James said. In a flash, he apparated to the back garden.

"James, what?"

"Shhh…just crouch down, here," James instructed. Lily disdainfully squatted down in her own flowerbed.

"This is ridiculous," she protested quietly. "We're hiding out from a sweet little old lady!"

"She'll be gone in a bit and I'll have saved our afternoon," James said. "You'll see."

Lily rolled her eyes, but rested her head against her husband's shoulder. James wrapped an arm around her waist, and the couple sat quietly concealed in the garden.

"Hey Lils?"

"Mmm?"

"What do you suppose he'll be like?" James asked, idly rubbing the baby bump.

"Perfect," Lily said simply.

James sighed.

"Yes, yes, but what if he's not? How are we going to teach our son manners when we're staked out from the neighbors?" James asked. "I'm not exactly a shining example of good citizenry, what with the schooldays rebellion and the Order and such."

"Don't be silly, James. If the baby had to sit through four hours of _Hogwarts: A History_ in person, he'd understand," Lily argued. "And besides, what makes you so sure Baby isn't a girl?"

James smiled. "I have a feeling."

"Oh boy," Lily said.

"Exactly! I'm glad you agree," James said.

Lily opened her mouth with a comeback as James kissed her.

"Boy or girl or hippogriff, Lils, I'm just saying, you'll be the moral compass guiding us all."

"That's a cross I'll have to bear," Lily said lightly.

"You're right, though," James said after a few moments.

"Of course I am—wait, about what?"

"Baby Potter will be perfect."

As Harry returned to his own sitting room, he felt calm and joy and a rapidly growing sense of pride. His own parents—despite a war and their youthful ages—were approaching parenthood optimistically, at least.

"If they can handle it, I can," Harry said.

From the settee opposite Harry, an older James grinned.

"That's the spirit, kiddo."

–30–


End file.
